Abstract
The presented study is focused on the verification of a Building Environmental Assessment System (BEAS). A total of 13 detached family houses representing typical construction sites in Slovakia were chosen for analysis, evaluation and certification by using a BEAS which contains several main fields: A—Site Selection and Project Planning; B—Building Construction; C—Indoor Environment; D—Energy Performance; E—Water Management; and F—Waste Management. The results of this study show that the current construction method for family houses does not respect the criteria of sustainable construction as much as it possibly can. The reason for this is that investment costs for construction are prioritized over environmental and social aspects. Therefore, one house with a score of 1.10 is certified as BEAS BRONZE, ten family houses with scores of 1.56–2.88 are certified as BEAS SILVER and only two family houses with total scores of 3.59 and 3.87, respectively, are certified as BEAS GOLD. The overall results show that the weakest fields of sustainability are Waste management, Energy performance and Building construction. The best-rated fields are Site Selection and Project Planning, Indoor Environment and Water Management. In the future, it is essential to pay attention to those areas where the sustainability criteria have not been reached, as well as to raise project teams’ awareness of sustainability issues and subsequently to transfer them to building practices.
Highlights
One of the first key definitions of sustainable development is that of the Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future defines sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs [1]
Field A—Site selection and project planning of the building environmental assessment system (BEAS) assessment system is divided into 14 indicators, each characterized by its purpose and the criterion for a specific assessment (Table 3)
Family houses were certified according to the following scale: if the evaluated house reached the total number of points in the range of −1 to 0, it was assessed as unacceptable (Unacceptable building); if a house reached point 0, it was assessed as acceptable (BEAS CERTFIED); when the number of points was reached in the range of 0.1 to 1.5, the house was considered acceptable (BEAS BRONZE); when the number of points was in the range of 1.5 to 3, the house was assessed as good (BEAS SILVER); for reaching points in the range of 3 to 4, the house was assessed as better (BEAS GOLD); and for the points from 4 to 5, the house was assessed as sustainable (BEAS PLATINUM)
Summary
One of the first key definitions of sustainable development is that of the Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future defines sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs [1]. A green building is defined as a building designed, constructed or operated in a way which reduces or eliminates negative impacts, and can have benefits on our climate and natural environment [2]. In another definition, green building is the practice of using building materials and processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a whole life cycle, from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction of the building [3]. Another study [27] analyzed the satisfaction levels of occupants with their buildings overall, building performance and indoor environmental quality factors in different seasons for non-certified and Three-Star certified office buildings. The results showed that employees perceive green building spaces as being better than similar spaces in conventional buildings
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